Orchard Issue
by Foxboy614
Summary: *Request from Skye Prower 2016* A bit of a redo of the orchard scene from "How to Succeed in Evil Without Really Even Trying" After accidently destroying Sticks' orchard, Tails is forced to replant. However, when a certain black hedgehog steps into the picture, what will come of that?


**I do not own Sonic Boom or its characters. I am merely doing this for fun. This was requested to me by Skye Prower 2016** **, who suggested me to do a rewrite of the orchard scene from an episode of Sonic Boom. It'll follow a bit of that episode, but there will be a considerable change further in to it.** **I didn't want to copy it word-for-word and scene-by-scene, so you'll see some changes.**

It was a calm and beautiful day as Sticks was in her orchard, picking beige berries for a pie she will be making for the pie festival being held in the village. Sticks had collected about four baskets full of berries already, and had a good start on the current basket she was filling up now. Sticks had high hopes that she was going to win this festival, since she has been perfecting her recipe for days, making sure to get it absolutely perfect.

"Nobody will ever guess that beige berries are the secret ingredient for my pie." Sticks said to herself. But then she began to feel a bit on edge. "Unless… one of these trees is really a spy in disguise." she said before looking around at the trees. She glared. "I'm on to you trees! You'll never get my recipe! NEVER!" she shouted.

She soon heard whirring in the distance and heard as it got louder and closer. It was Tails, who was driving along in his Tailsmobile. "Hey Sticks." he greeted. "I see you're picking beige berries for your beige berry pie. Need any help?" Sticks froze and her eyes went wide. She feared the berries were about to learn what she planned to do with them.  
"I-I-I don't know what he's talking about..." she told them nervously. "I'm taking you to live on a farm." she added. Tails rolled his eyes with a grin and headed home to get a device ready to help Sticks.

 *** Back at the workshop ***

Tails had already made considerable progress on a large berry picking machine. He was putting the finishing touches on it now. "Grab-claws connected to the trap-maw. Trap-maw connected to the scoop-maw. Scoop-maw connected to the positively-charged resistor-cuffing ion-matrix." he sang. But when he went to turn it on, nothing happened. He tried again, and still nothing. He growled and rested his fists on his hips before going to check the battery. It was then that he saw the problem; it had no charge. "Not enough juice. Lots of trees need lots of v's." he concluded.

So Tails went over to the shelf and looked at the batteries on it. "Nope." he said as he passed by a smaller one. "Nope." he said again when he passed by one about the same size as the one in his machine. "Nope." he said AGAIN when he passed by a large one, far bigger than the one in the machine. But then, in the corner of his eye, he noticed Sonic outside, playing volleyball by himself. He would lob the ball over the net and quickly rush over to the other side and lob it back. "Perfect!" Tails said to himself.

Once Tails had convinced Sonic to help out, he connected some wires to a stationary bike exercise machine and had Sonic get on. "Are you sure about this Tails?" Sonic asked in doubt. "You know how Sticks is about machines."  
"But this thing runs on natural energy." Tails assured him. "Yours. It's better than going green; it's going BLUE!" he added, shooting his fists up in the air. Sonic shrugged his shoulders.  
"Fair enough. Say when." he said before pedaling the machine fast, charging the battery up in about three seconds. But his speed caused the battery to overpower and explode a bit, covering Tails in black smoke-stains.  
"W-W-When..." he said in a dazed manner as his eyes spun.

 *** Back at the orchard ***

Sticks was still picking more berries when she heard rumbling in the distance, and heard as it got louder and closer. She looked over and saw Tails' machine coming up. In fear, Sticks jumped up high over it, landing on all fours. Tails comes up holding a controller, moving the sticks and making the machine go up to a tree. But instead of it picking the berries, the machine shredded up the entire tree! Frantically, Tails tried to get it to stop, only to make things worse as it went on a tree-shredding rampage. _"No, no, no, no, NO!"_ Tails screamed internally.

After mere seconds, the entire orchard was shredded. The ground was littered with branches, sticks, and leaves. Tails and Sticks just stared at the sight before them in disbelief as the machine kept going around the orchard. Sticks turned her head to Tails, her face showing obvious rage and anger. Tails looked at her with a sheepish grin and chuckle. "Well, my work here is done." he said sheepishly as he tried to fly away as fast as he could. But he did not get very far; Sticks jumped up and grabbed his ankle, bringing him down to the ground face-first. "Oof." he said upon landing. He spat and sputtered out some dirt before shaking some dirt off his face. Sticks grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him up on his feet.  
"Tails! Your machine just destroyed the orchard!" she yelled at him, gesturing to the field.  
"W-W-Well, look on the bright side; a-a-at least you still have the berries..." Tails weakly defended. But when they both turned around, they saw the machine now shooting out berry goop before finally coming to a slow stop. Sticks returned her angered gaze back on Tails, who smiled sheepishly once again. Without saying a word, she walked away to where she had set her full baskets and picked up a bigger one full of seeds. She walked back over and gave it to Tails.

"You destroyed it, you replant it." Sticks told him.  
"What?!" Tails shouted in protest.  
"You heard me! Now get busy!" she ordered him before leaving to pick her baskets up. Tails watched her leave, still in disbelief that she would have him replant the whole orchard by himself.  
"But I'll miss the festival!" he yelled out to her. But she ignored him and kept walking away. Tails stood there in silence before kicking up dust in anger. "Stupid paranoid badger." he said to himself. But he knew the field was not going to replant itself, so he got started on it.

At about half-way along the first row, Tails felt something hard hit him in the back of the head. "OW!" he yelled out in pain as he clutched the spot it hit. He looked around and saw a rock with a leaf tied on it. He picked up the rock and took the leaf off before tossing the rock away. On the leaf was a note, reading _**"Call me that again, and watch what happens."**_ Tails found himself in disbelief again; HOW DID SHE HEAR THAT?! In anger, he ripped the leaf up and tossed the pieces away. He then got busy replanting the orchard.

About half-way through, Tails was beginning to feel down and depressed. "I can't believe Sticks is making me replant the whole orchard. Now I'm gonna miss the pie festival." he said to himself as he dropped seeds along a path.

"If I were you, I'd say forget the field and head down there anyways." a dark voice said.

Tails froze dead in his tracks and he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He even dropped the basket. He slowly turned his head to the source of the voice, and sure enough, he saw HIM; Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow had his usual look on his face as he leaned against Tails' machine with his arms crossed.

"Shadow? What are you doing here?" Tails asked.  
"I was just in the neighborhood, and I happened to see you replanting the orchard and talking to yourself. It would seem you're having girl troubles." Shadow said, walking towards him.  
"Oh, it's Sticks. I accidentally shredded her orchard, and now she's making me replant the whole thing." Tails said. "I'm not surprised though; any time I accidentally make a screw-up, the team always gets mad at me, acting as if I INTENTIONALLY tried to harm them. But with Sticks, it's especially infuriating, because she's done LOTS to us, yet the team says practically NOTHING to her!"

Shadow was silent for a while. Tails seemed to be venting out his frustrations on the situation. _"And this is_ _one reason_ _why I tend to not have friends; too much drama."_ he thought. And as much as he wanted to tell Tails to suck it up and get over it, he just could not bring himself to do it. "You know what? Come on. I'll take you to that festival, and we're gonna straighten her out." he told Tails. Tails had to do a double-take.  
"Wait, what?" he asked. "You're actually going to help me?"  
"I figured I should do SOMETHING for you, given how you defeated that accursed serpent, Lyric, saving the entire village." Shadow pointed out. Tails nodded in understanding and went to follow Shadow. But they did not get very far before Shadow stopped and realized he did not know where the festival was being held. "Uh… where is the festival?"  
"The village." Tails replied. "You can't miss it… assuming you know where it is." he added.  
"Ah. Got ya." Shadow said before placing his hand on Tails' shoulder and teleporting himself and Tails to the village.

 *** At the village ***

Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles were currently at the festival, looking at all the pies as they made their way to Sticks' booth to see what pie she made. "Man, all these pies look delicious." Sonic commented. "It's a good thing I'm not a judge; too hard to pick."  
"I know what you mean." Amy said with a giggle.  
"I don't." Knuckles said. "But I think these pies look tasty."  
"That's what we're talking about." Sonic said, rolling his eyes with an amused grin.

When they arrived at Sticks' booth, they saw her setting her pie up. It was fresh out of the oven and steaming hot. Sonic and the others smelled it, smiling. If it tasted as good as it smelled, Sticks may have very well baked up a blue ribbon. "Feeling confident?" Amy asked.  
"Yep." Sticks replied.  
"It looks really good." Sonic said. "It's a shame Tails isn't here."  
"Yeah, I did notice that. Where is he?" Knuckles asked.  
"He shredded the orchard, and I made him replant it." Sticks replied.  
"Couldn't you just let him do it after the festival?" Amy asked, feeling a bit mad at Sticks for her making Tails miss out on the fun.  
"No. He had to do it right then and there." Sticks said, defending her stance.

As Amy and Sticks went back and forth arguing, Sonic was looking around, trying to ignore the girls. But then something, or rather, someONE caught his eyes. And it was not just one someone; it was TWO!

It was Shadow and Tails!

"Yo guys! Look there!" Sonic said, pointing in Shadow and Tails' direction. "It's Shadow and Tails!"  
"What?" Amy asked in dibelief.  
"What?" Knuckles asked.  
"What?!" Sticks asked in anger.

"Hey guys!" Tails greeted. And he was greeted with a handshake and a bro-hug from Sonic and Knuckles, as well as a handshake and hug from Amy. "I'm here. Hope I didn't miss anything."  
"But Sticks told us you were replanting the orchard." Knuckles pointed out. But before Tails could reply, Sticks barged in the conversation.  
"I DID. And he WAS! Why aren't you back at the orchard?!" she asked in anger.  
"Shadow brought me here." Tails said, getting mad himself.  
"And he's going to take you back!" Sticks said. "I told you to replant the orchard! And you are not to stop until every seed is in the ground!"

"Oh, shut up, you stupid weasle!" Shadow barked, scaring Sticks silent. His voice echoed throughout the village, rendering the whole place silent. "Who are you to bark orders to your friend? Especially since what he did was an accident."  
"Shadow, he needs to fix what he did wrong." Sticks said.  
"Oh, he does, but not YOU?" Shadow retorted, getting up in her face. "Yeah, don't think I don't know of what YOU'VE done to your friends. Your friend here explained it to me." he gestured over to Tails. "Yet your friends say absolutely nothing to you. And yet they, along with you, are so quick to snap at Tails when he accidentally harms you."

Sticks was rendered as stiff as a board, as were Sonic and the others. Shadow was actually defending Tails. Sonic was especially surprised, considering Shadow tried to destroy them during the whole incident with Lyric. But why was he doing it?

"I've been watching you, and I've noticed Tails has done more to help you than you've ever done for him. He works himself to death to help the team and make your battles with Eggman easier, but all you do is get mad at him when he makes an accidental screw-up." Shadow said, still in his rant. "And as for YOU!" he jabbed his finger into Sticks' chest. "Not only has Tails TOLD me abut what you've done to him and the team, but I've even SEEN a few instances." Sticks had to do a double-take.  
"Wait… how?" she asked.  
"Never you mind." Shadow dismissed her. "That's not important. What IS important is that you get mad at him for HIS mistakes, yet I don't see them getting mad at YOU for yours. I've seen them get ANNOYED, but never ANGRY."

Now Sticks felt a strange pang in the pit of her gut. She knew Shadow was right; whenever Tails messes up, everyone acts like he did it on purpose. And on top of that, they never actually thank him for what he did for them until later. They all knew they had to do better in the future. Her, especially.

"I… I'm so sorry… I never even thought about… or considered that." Sticks said with guilt in her voice.  
"Don't tell ME. Tell HIM." Shadow told her before pointing to Tails. Sticks nodded her head and walked over to Tails.  
"Tails… I'm sorry for how I acted… I know you were only trying to help me. And… I should have known, after all that you've done for us, that you would never try to harm us, or do anything bad against us, on purpose. I can't guarantee that it won't happen again, but I CAN say I will TRY to not let it happen. And… if you want… I won't make you replant the orchard alone. I still want you to do it, but I will help you this time. But, I forgive you for what you've done. Now… can you forgive ME for how I was?" Sticks asked.

Tails could tell by the tone of her voice and the look on her face that she was serious. Apparently what Shadow said struck a nerve in her and straightened her out. With a smile, Tails pulled her into a hug, surprising her and making her blush. "It's okay. I forgive you." he told her. Feeling relieved and happy, Sticks hugged back. Now it was Tails' turn to blush.

When the two finally pulled away, Tails went to thank Shadow for helping him out. But Shadow was gone. Tails looked around, trying to see if he could find him, but there was not even a trace of him. "Where'd he go?" he asked.  
"He must've teleported away while Sticks was apologizing." Sonic said. "And we were focusing on you, so we weren't paying attention to him." he then admitted.  
"...Well then..." Tails said, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Is it almost time for the judging to begin?"  
"Just about." Sticks replied. "And since you're here, you wanna join us?" she asked.  
"I would love to." Tails replied with a smile.

And so, everything was settled and forgiven, and in just a few seconds, the judging would begin. Tails joined Sticks in her booth to wait for the judges to start tasting the pies. After several minutes, all the pies had been tasted, and now Sticks was standing on trembling knees, waiting for the final verdict. And finally, the verdict was reached, and the bomb was dropped; the winner of the contest was…

Sticks the Badger!

Sticks had to let it sink in before she finally began to jump up and down in glee. "Way to go Sticks! You did it!"  
"Nice work buddy!" Sonic cheered.  
"I knew you'd win!" Amy cheered.  
"WOOO!" Knuckles cheered.

Once the festival was over, Sticks and the others walked home. Sticks was carrying her pie with her, now with a blue ribbon on it. She was so happy; all of her hard work and effort paid off.

But now, there was still one thing to deal with; what to do about the orchard?

However, after a few seconds, Sticks decided to put it off until later. And when Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles headed off to the beach to play volleyball, Sticks invited Tails to her burrow to enjoy some pie as a token of thanks for what he did do in replanting the orchard, and as a way to say "I'm sorry.". Finally, all was fine between them.

 **The End**

 *** How was I? Did I do good? Or do I need to improve? Let me know.**  
 **Anyways, I'm Foxboy614, and I bid you all farewell for now. God bless, and take care!**


End file.
